


When A Boy Tells You He Loves You

by akatsuki_tsukiyomi (Yumi25Nakashima)



Series: First Blush [38]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Hetalia Countries Using Human Names, Inspired by Poetry, Jealousy, Poetry, Reader-Insert, Slam Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28548609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yumi25Nakashima/pseuds/akatsuki_tsukiyomi
Summary: When a boy tells you he loves you, you will hear music...
Relationships: Switzerland (Hetalia)/Reader
Series: First Blush [38]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089500
Comments: 2





	When A Boy Tells You He Loves You

**Author's Note:**

> (F/N) - Reader's First Name  
> (L/N) - Reader's Last Name  
> Basch Zwingli - Switzerland's official human name
> 
> The featured poem is Edwin Bodney's spoken-word piece of the same title.

**_When a boy tells you he loves you_ **

**_It'll be the first time you hear this_ **  
  
  


She cautiously walked toward the far end of the office's kitchenette, a steaming cup of coffee grasped in her slender fingers. She blew the steam away in short puffs.

An officemate walked in to grab her own cup of coffee and they exchanged pleasantries.

"How're you holding up?" The younger woman asked her. She sipped her coffee but quickly pulled the paper cup away as she scalded her tongue. Cursing, she put a hand to her mouth.

She shrugged, forcing out a small smile. "It has to be done. I'm just glad that it's not as much work as last week."

"Oh, don't remind me," her colleague said, exasperated. She brought a hand to her forehead to ease her frustration. "Get into advertising, they said. It'll be fun, they said. Oh if only they knew, they'd take back all of those words."

She kept her pleasant and friendly demeanour as both of them sipped their evening coffee. It was long into the night already but their work was nowhere near finished.

"I'll go ahead then," her younger colleague said, drinking the last of her coffee and throwing it into the garbage bin. She gave her a quick wave before she was gone.  
  
  


**_It is late and he isn't even there to tell you this in person but instead_ **

**_From a car ride home from a bar in Chicago he is there on business_ **  
  
  


She continued blowing on her coffee absentmindedly. Her finger tapped on the paper cup she was holding. Her mind was floating away. What she would give to be home, warm and cosy in her bed. She'd be wearing pyjamas and watching a movie until the morning. Her company didn't pay enough to overwork its employees without much of a bonus for their countless nights of extended shifts.

Her eyes drifted from the coffee vending machine to the water dispenser and up the wall toward the round clock.

"Crap!" She cursed. Her break had been over for a good five minutes already. She quickly chugged down her coffee. It was already cool. She tossed the empty cup into the disposal and hurried back to her desk. As she approached with rapid footsteps, her colleagues turned their eyes toward her before going back to their businesses. She collapsed on her chair, cringing from the familiar ringtone of her desk's telephone and the blinking light indicating a customer. She placed the headset over her and quickly pressed the button to answer the incoming call.

"You've reached (F/n), thank you for calling. How may I help you out today?"  
  
  


**_And of course, you will smile_ **

**_Because he sounds like he means it_ **

**_Because you believe him_ **  
  
  


\---  
  
  


Her eyes were strained from the constant exposure to her monitor screen. She was struggling to keep them open enough for her to keep moving. She shoved her phone and keys into her bag before she put on her coat and stepped out of her flat doll shoes and into her low-heeled shoes.

"Hold it, please!" She called to the elevator doors as they slowly started closing.

A coworker quickly stopped the doors from closing so that she could squeeze in.

"Thank you," she mumbled gratefully, her hair falling in front of her face. She must have looked like a dishevelled mess, but if she did, her elevator companions said nothing. Rather, they paid no mind to it. All they had their minds on was to get home and get rest.

As she exited the large double doors of the company building, the winter wind quickly bit at her exposed face, hands, and legs. She shivered but continued walking. Her body ached from the day-to-day sedentary position posed by her job. With the merciless onslaught of calls on most nights, she barely got a sip of water or managed to take any breaks. During the lengthy phonecalls with customers of all dispositions, she tried to sneak in a stretch now and again, but it slipped her mind on the more laborious days and nights which were more frequent than not.  
  
  


**_Because a boy has never handed those words to you like crushed blackberries in the palms of his hands_ **

**_Firm, young, full_ **

**_Waiting to taste sweet with you, his arms, creeping vines begging_ **

**_To touch the sun, and your face saying; here_ **

**_Take everything I have ever touched to be closer to you_ **  
  
  


On the bus ride home, she bumped her head multiple times on the glass pane of the window. The kindly bus driver, already acquainted with her from her late-night shifts called for her when her stop was coming. She thanked him warmly as she stood to approach the doors.

Her heels hit the pavement as she exited, thrust back into the cold night. She shoved her hands into the pocket of her coat as she made her way toward her apartment. The night was silent save for the sound of her walking. She fiddled with her house keys as she held it in her left hand, buried into her pocket. Seeing the door to her apartment complex, she sighed relief and quickly jogged up to it.

She almost slipped hard onto her bottom as her foot landed exactly on a frozen spot on the ground. The world was not on her side. Treading on, more carefully, she stepped toward the door and opened it. She quickly made her way up the winding steps to the fourth floor. The front door of the complex building did nothing to keep the frost out. The stairwell was just as freezing.

She finally reached her door and stabbed her key into the lock of her doorknob. She twisted it open and crumbled into her abode. She locked her door, blocking the winter chill from entering.

She hurled her shoes to the wall and hung her coat on the peg. She dropped her bag to the floor as she grabbed her phone from it.

She opened it to check her text messages.

A 'seen' icon was displayed under the last message she had sent her boyfriend earlier that evening, on her twenty-five-minute dinner break. He did not bother to give her a reply, but that was characteristic of him.

She quickly sent a goodnight text, her mood turning sour from his lack of response. She tried to sigh the frustration away but it did no good. Nothing ruined her mood more than to be disregarded. He always contradicted her notion of him ignoring her, telling her that she was simply overthinking. She had a long day and she was tired. The last thing she needed from him was a barrage of texts of him asking her how her day went and him rambling on about his. How wrong he was. But he was as stubborn as she was and refused to compromise.  
  
  


\---  
  
  


**_His breath waiting to be folded into a love note passed in between_ **

**_The nape of your neck and his front teeth_ **  
  
  


"Really? Your father's the head of such a huge company, what made you think to get an internship here?" She asked one of the new interns. There was a fresh batch that would be working for experience in the company for four months. The intern assigned to be under her tutelage was the daughter of the head of one of the largest food corporations in the country.

The girl gave her a sheepish smile.

"I asked my father to give me a year off. It's already set that I'd be part of his company at one point or another, and that's what I've been working for my whole life. But I'm a fresh graduate and I barely feel accomplished. I'm taking this internship to get the experience of corporate life. This is also one of the rare things I'm going to be doing on my own, without my father's influence."

She smiled and nodded. She understood the feeling of having her autonomy. There was greater bliss in fulfilling one's personal goals. There was a sense of pride in one's independence.

"I look forward to working with you then," she paused, forgetting the girl's name.

"Sophie," she replied.

"Right, Sophie. Apologies, my mind's in a bit of a muddle. Speaking of which, working in a job like this and in any job, you need to always be organized and on top of your game. Don't let yourself be dragged around and overwhelmed by your tasks. You'll get it all done eventually so it's best to keep a clear head."

The younger girl nodded, quickly jotting down her words in her phone.

"I learned that from a senior when I first got into the company," she shared. Sophie nodded. "It's quite impactful. I'll be sure to remember that."  
  
  


**_He will remember the time you told him you felt safe in his mouth_ **

**_And he will never grow hungry_ **

**_Just distant_ **  
  
  


From behind Sophie, her eyes caught the familiar blond locks of the said senior, walking with his boss and another of his colleagues to the meeting room. He was the manager of the department she was in and he had been truly helpful when she was still new in the company. He helped her get around and form connections with her other colleagues, he gave her tips, and he was the prime example of what a good company employee should be—assertive, hands-on, detail-oriented, and steadfast.

She turned back to the girl in front of her.

"Then, we'll continue with the tour of the facilities and you can take a break in the lounge. I'll be with you again in," she looked down at her wristwatch. "Forty minutes, give or take."

Sophie nodded and she thanked her.  
  
  


\---  
  
  


She knocked on the apartment door across from hers, a bottle of wine packed in a slim paper bag clutched in her hands. She waited a couple of seconds before she heard his familiar footsteps make his way to the door. He opened the door, his green eyes meeting hers.

A smile adorned his face. It had been so long since she saw him outside of work that she flushed at the handsome sight.

" _Eintreten_ ," **come in** he opened the door wider for her to pass through. His mild perfume wafted to her and she could not help the giddy feeling of being in his presence after such a long time. Their jobs demanded most of their days and only rarely did they get the leisure to spend time together.  
  
  


**_When a boy tells you he loves you_ **

**_You will hear music_ **  
  
  


"You look nice," he complimented, taking the bottle of wine from her and pressing a chaste kiss on her cheek. She smiled warmly, happy to hear his praise.

" _Danke_." **thank you**

"How was your week?" She asked. She accepted the glass of wine he poured from her. She took a sip as she made her way further into his apartment. The layout was more or less the same as hers, but he managed to make his living space look tidy and inviting, unlike hers which was unkempt.

"Meetings, meetings, meetings. They're planning to launch a new product this month. We're already working on the advertisements, commercial shootings, and product placements. There'll be more meetings in the coming weeks. They're even talking about asking departments for input and even the interns pitching in."

He had their lunch neatly plated and served on the dinner table near the balcony. He pulled her seat back for her and she thanked him as she sat. She laid the table napkin on her nap neatly.

"That's new," she commented, referring to his previous statement. He nodded as he took his seat across her.

"If that pushes through, I'll be taking over the entire department's interns while Roderich will handle my subordinates."

"That's unfortunate, I was hoping to be with you in a meeting, for the first time in forever," she quipped, pulling a smile from him. He shrugged.

"I don't know, sometimes our boss is backwards."

She laughed at his humour.  
  
  


**_The voice of your past lovers dancing up your throat_ **

**_Your stomach, in after-hours cabaret, still waiting on the last call_ **  
  
  


" _Guten Appetit meine Leibe_ ," **Enjoy your meal my love** he raised his glass to her. She mirrored his action before they started their meal.  
  
  


\---  
  
  


"I don't believe it!" Antonio laughed as he chugged down his seventh drink of the night. They were at a company-hosted dinner party, one of the perks given by their company. Antonio, the manager of another department had joined Basch's table. With the Swiss man he had (F/n) and three of her colleagues as well as three of the interns, including her subordinate, Sophie.

She was sitting across from Basch, with Antonio at her side, while Sophie sat across from Antonio, with Basch at her side.

"You don't have an _Amante_? Eh, how you say—a **lover**?" He asked Sophie. She laughed and shook her head.

"I'm still figuring things out myself. A lover is not at the top of my list," she replied.

Antonio hummed and nodded before he nudged (F/n).

"She's just like you when you were new, eh?" She was in good terms with the Spaniard and they had become close friends despite him being a rank above her. "Cute and meek, like a _Corderito_!" **little lamb**

"But now she's one of the most tenacious of us," a colleague of hers added before alluding to Basch. "A promotion seems to be in the works. How's your position going there, Boss?"

He continued sipping his beer indifferently, only tuning in to the conversation amid the group.

"Mm," he nodded, his face neutral. "She might very much be the next manager."

"Where will you go then, Manager?" Sophie asked, shifting her attention to him and scooting over even closer.

He nodded to Antonio. "I'll take his job."

"Hey!"

(F/n) tried calming down her friend, laughing despite the dread creeping up on her. She never liked it when she was in the presence of women flirting with her lover. She understood where they were coming from; he was a seemingly unmarried and unattached man who had a stable job, career-oriented, and attractive. Had she been in their shoes, she would have also tried to play her hand.

It was ironic that she felt jealousy creep up on her. She too had previously been on the infatuated end of crushing on her boss and it had ended favourably for the both of them. Now that she was in a relationship with an officemate, her superior, nonetheless, they had both discussed and agreed that they needn't disclose their status. It would only interfere with their work. Or at least, that was what she agreed to at the time. Recently, she had been wondering if it would interfere at all with their work.  
  
  


**_That was when you learnt that when a boy says "I love you"_ **

**_He means I am getting ready to be inconsistent with you now_ **  
  
  


The merriment continued until the closing hour and they all piled out of the restaurant, leaving in groups of two or more.

She had one of Antonio's arms wrapped over her, his other arm slung over Basch's shoulder as they helped their friend gather himself together.

"Manager," she heard a familiar voice call to them. Sophie came into view, her cheeks flushed from the cold.

"Are you heading this way?"

Basch nodded wordlessly. Antonio mumbled in his drunken haze.

"I'll go with you then," she declared, walking beside him.  
  
  
  
  
  


It was a silent walk. In the middle of it, Antonio started giggling.

"Hey, (F/n), are you okay?" He slurred out, peeking an emerald eye open to look at her. She frowned at him, her expression completely disapproving of his unsightly state. Moreover, the implication of his words hit too close to home. He was one of the two people who knew of her intimate relationship with her manager. The other person was Basch's childhood friend, Roderich, who often visited him and often invited the couple over to his.

"Shut up, you're drunk," she snapped. They approached Basch's car and he hauled his friend over to rest on him fully, taking away the weight from (F/n).

"Be careful on your way!" Sophie politely said as he pushed Antonio into the backseat of his car.

Basch looked back at (F/n) and Sophie.

"If you're going the same way, I can drive you home," he declared.

"Really?" Sophie gasped. She looked at her senior and asked if they should take him up on his offer. She paused before nodding.

"Thank you!" Before (F/n) could reach for the door to the passenger seat, the younger girl had beat her to it. She climbed into the car, leaving Basch and (F/n) to stand in astonished silence.

"She's brazen," the older girl commented before she pushed her way into the backseat, squeezing herself next to Antonio who was hogging all the space. The blond man only sighed before he got into the car.  
  
  


**_This boy will tell you that he loves you_ **

**_Not long after he had you waiting for two hours in front of a cocktail lounge_ **

**_Patience is something you are working on_ **

**_But no, not for him_ **  
  
  


\---  
  
  


She wanted nothing but for the month to be over. It was the interns' last month at the company and for a seemingly suspicious reason, the food corporation that a certain intern's father ran had decided to hire their company for advertising a new product.

Realizing that Sophie was the daughter of the generous benefactor, Basch's boss assigned him to head the project, taking the said girl under his wing.

For the past month, he had been staying at the office later than his shift needed. His weekends were completely occupied with working on the project, one of his major productions in his time as manager of his department. Success in this project would surely land him a pleasing promotion.

Having said that, he spent more and more time with the woman his partner seemed to regard with disfavour, her aversion growing increasingly each day. He could not deny the advances he has noticed from the young girl. These were the moments he felt validated his argument of choosing to not impart their romantic relationship with his colleagues.

He was aware that Sophie had a particular interest in him. If she had known that she had no chance with him, she would not go through so much trouble to earn his favour. What's more, if she had known he was in a relationship, the opportunity he had been gracefully handed would not be available at all.  
  
  


**_When he asks you to tell him that you love him back,_ **

**_You will be in a car in the parking lot of a late-night diner_ **

**_You will watch the words fall into your lap like a spilt glass of white wine_ **  
  
  


She made her way back to her desk after finishing her nightly cup of coffee. Passing by the printing room with its open doorway, she heard a sharp exclamation.

"Oh no!" The voice she did not want to hear. Hearing the panic in the girl's voice, she cursed herself in her head but headed on to assist her nonetheless.

"Why didn't you bind them with a clip before you tried to carry them?" Basch's voice rang. She stopped in her tracks, standing close to the doorway. She saw Sophie on the ground, her expression confused and frustrated as numerous pieces of paper littered the ground. She looked disoriented and disheartened.

"They're all mixed up. The presentation starts in a couple of minutes. I'm sorry!"

(F/n) could see the tenseness in Basch's shoulders as he looked down at the dispirited girl. One thing he hated more than failure was passiveness. She should be readily picking up after herself after realizing her mistake instead of moping about that.

But looking past his pet peeve, she noticed another thing. He had the same look that he would give her when she failed at baking him cookies, or when she ironed a hole through his dress shirt, or when she bought a wrong size of clothing as a gift for his little sister on one of their visits to his home. It was almost undetectable, but she could see that it was there; he had the look.

He had a softness in his eyes as he looked at her disapprovingly. He offered Sophie a hand to get back on her feet. Wordlessly, he helped her pick up the pieces of scattered paper.

(F/n) made her way back to her desk, not bearing the familiar sight of blossoming fondness between the two.  
  
  


**_You will remember the day your courier pigeon heart got lost in the wind_ **

**_Because that was a message it did not know how or where to carry_ **

**_And one by one the boys have fallen as silently as the birds do_ **  
  
  


"Get yourself together," he firmly stated to the frazzled girl, helping her organize the pages in order.

"Working in a job like this, you need to always be organized and on top of your game. Don't let yourself be dragged around and overwhelmed by your tasks. You'll get it all done eventually so it's best to," her eyes lit up at the familiar words he spoke.

"Keep a clear head," the both of them said. He looked surprised.

"My senior mentioned something like that to me on my first day," she explained, mentioning (F/n). "I didn't know she was talking about you, Manager."

He refused to meet her eyes. He hummed as he turned to leave.

"Get those papers ready, the meeting will start shortly."

"Right away!"  
  
  


**_So eloquently they used to speak until I asked the questions that broke them into ghosts_ **

**_That bled me into a corpse with so many questions of my own for the soil_ **

**_but they're tongues do not know simple_ **

**_The things I should be hearing, the things that will make us living men_ **

**_in this time of insatiable yet dying lovers_ **  
  
  


\---  
  
  


"Here's to the interns! _Salud_!" **Cheers** Antonio took charge of the salutations for the interns' sending off party. It had been a long four months.

Everyone raised their glasses to cheer.

"And cheers to our manager's successful project!" Sophie toasted, earning another round of raised glasses.

(F/n) chugged down her drink.

"Hey, slow down, the night is young!" Antonio laughed. At the frown she presented him, he awkwardly turned away.

She was not in the best of moods to be celebrating anything, but she would be in a worse mood if she did not attend the party. Keeping an eye on Basch seemed to be her recent hobby. Even though it sourly changed her demeanour, she preferred to see the event unfold than to be last to hear the story.

Word spread around the office that one of the interns was romantically involved with their manager. It was hard not to see why such a rumour surfaced. A certain intern had been stuck to his side like glue for the last month. He was often in meetings with her and even in weekend outings. They did not need to understand that it was all strictly business to start up their conspiracy theories. They talked about it like they saw it. They looked to be a couple.  
  
  


**_When a boy tells you he loves you_ **

**_Only to become silent like a folded sheet of tissue paper_ **

**_Not wanting you to decrease him into the truth_ **  
  
  


She refilled her drink and picked it up, only to have a hand stop her before she could bring it to her lips. She looked up to see Basch's green eyes.

"He's right. Slow down," he gently said, the softness in his voice unmistakably uncharacteristic.

She held back a scowl. She simply put her glass down.

"Right," she said through clenched teeth.

Sophie poured him a glassful of beer and she handed it to him. "Enjoy."  
  
  


\---  
  
  


"I can do it by myself," she grumbled as she pushed her way past him and into her apartment.

"Let me stay over tonight," he pressed, following her inside and placing her hurriedly discarded shoes neatly by the wall. He locked her door and tugged her coat off her shoulders along with the light cardigan she donned.

"Do whatever you want."

Her mood had not changed from the start of the evening.

Like the last dinner, Basch took it upon himself to take Antonio safely home along with (F/n). Much to the latter's chagrin, Sophie asked to tag along once more. Once they had dropped Antonio off and Sophie to the front of her family's large estate much to the girl's unwillingness to part from Basch, (F/n) reached into her lover's coat pocket, grabbing the silver canteen of Absinthe he always kept with him.

" _Nicht_!" **Don't** His exclamation fell into deaf ears as she took a swig of the spirit. He quickly retrieved the bottle back and out of her reach. She reclined in the back seat as he drove, rambling on about how he was a jerk for leading a woman on and leaving another hanging. He only kept silent, his eyes straight on the road.  
  
  


**_Do not crack your face into the fullest crescent moon of the tapered bottom of a blackened sky_ **  
  
  


As he helped her out of her clothes, her arm swung out of control and hit him in the jaw. She mumbled an uncommitted apology. She stepped into the warm bath he had drawn for her.

She sighed in bliss.

He left the room and returned shortly after with a lit candle, a calming fragrance of lavender wafting in with him.

"You drank so much, _Sternschnuppe_ ," **falling star** he commented.

She raised a hand. "I don't need that from you right now, alright? And don't woo me with your Swiss German, _bitte_." **Please**

He sighed and sat on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor, setting the candle in front of him. He unbuttoned his sleeves and folded them up to his elbows.

"Don't be difficult," he said.

Her eyes were blazing as she sent him a glare.

"Do you know what's difficult? _You_. Alright, you're difficult Basch. Mr Manager. I get it, you had to do it, but at least show me something other than that unconcerned expression. Are you even slightly interested in the fact that I was hurt? For the past month, for the past hours? I need more than your nonchalance."  
  
  


**_He never meant a single word of any of it_ **  
  
  


He did not meet her eyes.

"It's over and done with. We have no reason to meet anymore, there's nothing to worry about. If it's the talks in the office that you're bothered with, it will die down eventually. Things like that come and go." He played with the flame of the candle as he crossed his legs. She splashed some water on him.

"Can you be any more apathetic? It's the fact that you barely seem moved by the fact that I am hurt, Basch. Do you understand that? You're so detached. And at the end of the night, you didn't even tell her that you weren't interested. Sure, the business ends tonight, but what if she doesn't want to have it end tonight? I'm just so confused. You say one thing but you do another. You tell me there's nothing to worry about but you do nothing to assure me."

He lifted his head and held her hand. She was tempted to pull it away.  
  
  


**_He is just a boy, remember?_ **  
  
  


"It's over and done with, _meine Leibe_. Believe me."

She hummed and nodded, reflecting fatigue in her eyes.

"Alright?" He tucked her hair behind her ear, cradling her cheek in his hand softly.

She stared into the depths of his viridescent orbs.

"Alright," she whispered, hoping she believed her words if not his, at the least.  
  
  


**_He is just another silly, sad boy, remember?_ **

**Author's Note:**

> If you find the events of the one-shot similar with some of the happenings in a certain Korean drama, it is because it is based on Kim Joo-man and Baek Seol-Hee's relationship in 'Fight For My Way.' The featured poem is Edwin Bodney's spoken-word piece of the same title. And yes, Sophie is the fanon name for Nyo!Austria. Yes, she is Nyo!Austria in this sense.
> 
> This was originally published in Wattpad on Jul 13, 2020.


End file.
